A Chinese traditional medicinal plant, Fritillaria delavayi is usually a bright green plant found in the rocky areas of the Himalayas and Hengduan Mountains in Southwestern China.
The bulbs of these flowers have been widely used to make cough-treating powder for more than 2,000 years.
Some of these Fritillaria are very difficult to find with living leaves and stems that are barely distinguishable from the grey or brown rocky background in which they grow. This is because the plant camouflages in response to humans.
Researchers have studied to see if humans might be driving the plants to camouflage. They found that the areas where more harvesting is done by humans they become more camouflaged than the less harvested areas.
This is not the first time that plants have responded to predators in this way. Would you like to research and tell us in comments, about other times that researchers have found plants working in self-defence?
